The present invention relates to rod and reel combinations for fishing, and specifically to compact rods such as would be used for ice fishing or compact transport.
Fishing rods of the prior art tend to be long, gently tapering poles which have a small tip and a substantially larger handle. As can be expected, these long rods provide little in the way of delicate control needed to jig a small ice fishing hole. Further, the long poles tend to be difficult to transport and usually require some form of breakdown into sections. The smaller rods, exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,685,195, 3,778,916, and 4,027,419 to Merryweather, Wallace, and Popeil respectively, have the drawback of reduced sensitivity to biting fish. Even in the larger rods this may be a drawback, and many systems have been devised to improve the fisherman's awareness of the fish. Such a system is demonstrated by Wiebe in U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,369, where a special finger grip is provided to add some sensitivity to the long rod. Other systems prevail such as tip-up indicators.